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reviews, page 3
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Mini Racing
New 1:43rd scale kits & hand built models

MRAP065

Talbot Lotus Sunbeam road car

£27.50

MRAP065M

Talbot Sunbeam Lotus street built

£42.50

MRA348M

Citroen Visa Monte Carlo 1987 #161 built

£78.10

MRA415M

Talbot Sunbeam Lotus Monte '80 #18 built

£74.55

MRA419M

Citroen BX GTI 16V Monte 1987 service built

£78.10

MRA428M

Citroen CX estate Monte 1987 service built

£78.10

MRA448M

Citroen C25 van Monte 1987 service built

£95.90

The Talbot Lotus kit is very well made with a crisp accurate-looking bodyshell and good ancillary parts. Sadly the chassis 'tub' is just that - with the car's interior being a sort of bath- shaped unit with the seats etc in situ which makes them almost impossible to detail paint. This is a primitive form of model engineering which is not user-friendly and it is time manufacturers stopped doing it. Additionally - there is no interior door panel detail. The hand built version is in black with a black interior and a load of decals which include silver side stripes. It looks fine and has an excellent paint finish. The hand-built Visa of Dorche from 1987 is well built but very poorly detailed in that the roll cage is incorrectly placed and the driver's window 'air' panel is also badly situated. At a quick glance the built Monte 1980 Lotus also looks fine until you notice that the roll cage is incorrectly placed and the car has no mud flaps. The last three hand-builts here form part of the Citroen rally team support group. All are very well built with good paint finishes and efficient decal placement. The interiors are however totally bland and you are expected to build the roof-mounted photo-etched tyre rack for the C25 van. That - for collectors of hand-builts - would be a task too far............ The group photo here is of the Visa Monte Carlo and it's support vehicles detailed above. The Lotus photos are of the road and the Monte car.





Competition 43
New 1:43rd kits and hand built models

COMHD001

BMW 320 GR5 DRM 1979 Jagermeister - Kit

£62.30

COMHD002

Mercedes 500SLC GR5 Proto 81-Hans Heyer-Kit

£62.30

Two very well made kits with clearly defined resin bodies and chassis and a wealth of both cast and photo-etched metal ancillaries. Full engine detail is included plus a lift-off bonnet (hood) on the BMW and there's good transmission detail too. Both models should build to look spectacular and there's room for superdetailing by way of wiring and piping. The Mercedes prototype was a a most unusual car in that it featured a rear (mid!) engine. Does any reader have more (brief) details of this fascinating machine which we could include in our letters page?
Page 1, Page 2, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8
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SMTS
SMTS - 1:43rd kits & hand built models

CL077

TVR Tuscan Street Open/Closed Kit

£29.95

CL077MAA

TVR Tuscan - Open Top Street - Built - orange

£70.50

CL077MBB

TVR Tuscan - Closed Top Street - Built - purple

£70.50

First test - does it look like the car? Answer - yes - very much like it (them). The kit is crisply cast with only a little flash to clean off and the parts are comprehensive even including small details like foot pedals and door interior detail. The panel line engraving for the doors - see photos - is a little generous but the kit is otherwise a good build prospect with no apparent snags and a promised good result. That is evident from the two built models (see colour shots last month) which have a fine paint finish despite not being 'prepped' thoroughly.

Racing 43
Racing 43 1:43 kits

RGRK254

Ferrari 308 GR4 Trabucchi 1981 Patterson Kit

£29.45

RGS042

Porsche 911SC TDC 1977 Eminence Kit

£32.55

RGS151

Fiat Punto Kit San Remo 2000 Macaluso Kit

£32.55

RGS154

Peugeot 205T16 Safari 1986 Kit

£37.55

RGS155

Subaru Legacy 1000 Lakes 90/Sweden '91 Kit

£32.55

RGS157

Subaru Impreza WRX 555 1st Sanremo 1996 Kit

£32.55

Racing 43's kits are excellent. All follow a common formula - they're metal - the bodyshells are crisp and accurate with no awkward mould join lines to clean off and the panel lines are quite delicately engraved. Chassis too are metal as are a majority of the excellent and usually comprehensive ancillaries like seats, wheels, dash panels, fire bottles etc. There are good illustrated instructions and decals - and most have a whole wad of very fine photo-etch to include items like grilles, body panel pins resin filled lights and so on. What's more these kits build easily and look superb.The Ferrari is the exciting blue with black and yellow stripes machine of Vudafieri - it makes a change from the usual hoardes of red. The Eminence underwear sonsored Porsche 911SC is the 6th-placed Corsican rally car of J. Almeras one of the two brothers who run the famous 'Almeras Freres' Porsche preparation company. The pretty red Fiat Punto 'kit' rally car is that of M. Macaluso who we think is the son of the famous classic rally car collector (full size!). The Peugeot 205T16 kit makes the classic works rally supercar of the 1980s and the kit includes good detail of the visible rear (mid) engine bay. The Subaru Legacy - neglected subject at the time it rallied - is also a 'works' car - THE works car indeed of the great Marku Alen andKikki Kiwimaki. The Subaru Impreza works car from the 1996 San Remo has decals for you to build the cars of either McRae or Sainz. A superb batch of kits that promise really enjoyable builds. PS - most of these kits include two sets of decals!